Weekend Pictures 2011 plus some

ACC Helena 2011 Week 1 Camp Day 4

HBBC in Helena 2011 Week 1 Day 4
Posted by Dave Hawkins
Thursday came and Thursday went before we knew it. The Lord blessed all of us by allowing us to be involved with the All Church Challenge this year. It seems like yesterday that McCauley and Elsie were greeting me with a large iced coffee at the Delta Terminal in Memphis and then yesterday Charlie and I zoomed them back. Unfortunately, we missed the awards ceremony where Ben, Leonora and the Newell kids for honored for the 10 years of their life given to Phillips County. Ray Higgins from CBF Arkansas and Together For Hope told of the millions of dollars brought into the community and 5 new buildings created during “The Newell” era.
You really understand and appreciate this when you see people standing in line, hoping a slot will be available to participate in camp. Due to an aggressive pre-registration, we reached our ceiling of 120 children early this year. This follows a year when we weren’t full. The swim program is using lifeguards now that were trained at ACC swim camp. So many churches and so many people have invested time and energy here and MUST keep it going. Ben and Leonora are moving on but it’s time for us to step up and give Mollie Palmer the boost to grow the camp and make it more efficient. HBBC has been a large part of this program under Kristen’s leadership – Let’s help put it over the top as the new era begins.
From “the heat” in Helena - David

Helena 2011 Week 1 Camp Day 3

posted by: McCauley James

With another day of camp under our belt, we continued to push through the heat and build relationships established with camp members and others in the community. This morning we woke up to a freshly cooked sausage, egg, and cheese casserole with a hot biscuit and fresh fruit. We sure are spoiled every morning! Kate, mom, and I had another rewarding day in the pool and around camp. Mom was able to take her kids to the deep end again where she taught them to tread water and continue practicing their dives. Later in the afternoon when an important visitor appeared to inspect the progress of the swim camp, he was pleasantly surprised by how well Kate was running the program and the immense improvement of swimming abilities. A part of my day that I would like to highlight was when a young choir from Zion Hill Baptist Church performed during lunch in the park. All of children in my group had previously been complaining of exhaustion and hunger and were highly anticipating the arrival of their lunches. However, as we began handing out lunches, the choir began to sing. Immediately every child in my group voluntarily put their hunger and exhaustion aside and, with enthusiasm, jumped up to join the choir in singing and praise. What a neat moment to watch!

David and his buddy Tracey worked together again delivering water and ice to the many different stations around camp to ensure that everyone stayed hydrated. All of us went back to New Light Baptist Church for a wonderful taco dinner. Kate, Mom, and I returned to the pool for adult swimming lessons and then met David and Charles back at New Light for an evening worship service. The music was outstanding and the many speakers, including Rev. Wade and Ben Newell, shared a meaningful message on confession, reconciliation, leadership, and work. We have had yet another exciting day that has continued to enrich our spirits. In addition, we have witnessed how God has blessed this community with many loving people who care about the improvement of their future. Tomorrow is the last day of camp this week and though mom and I are sad to leave, we know that next week will be just as great for Kate, David and the other HBBC members that will be joining them!

Helena 2011 Week 1 Camp Day 2

HBBC Helena Blog 2011 Week 1 Camp Day 2
Posted by: Dave Hawkins McCauley James
Understanding that McCauley is an English major and able to clean this up, I’m to write first. McCauley gives you a great perspective and I’m sure that by now you think we’ve each gained fifteen pounds. We started again today with a scrumptious breakfast at our B&B. Dana, our host started us with fresh fruit and juice or homemade granola to be followed by a wonderfully unique French toast served with bacon. So, so good! The girls go to the pool or park and are usually served a sandwich in a brown bag – not wonderful. Those of us with roving or outside jobs are treated to “Miss Mary’s” lunch at the Eden Market. Today’s lunch was fried squash, colored butter beans, fried chicken and homemade corn bread. This was followed by a cone of Blue Bell ice cream. Delivering water and ice with my “buddy” Tracey Payne from FBC Richmond is a never ending task when the heat index is 116 degrees. Someone is always calling and saying, we are out of water. The local fire department usually supplies us most of our ice but there reserve is too low in these extreme conditions. A local gentleman that owns Cunningham Propane has graciously provided the rest of what we have needed. The Lord has blessed us and we have had no serious heat related health issues. Elsie, McCauley, Charles and I attended a dinner tonight at New Light Baptist served by Delta Fellowship Church. Ben and Leonora Newell have a close relationship with both churches. Everywhere I go in this community, someone expresses to me how much the Newell’s are going to be missed in Phillips County. It is everyone’s hope and prayer that what has been started, can carry on.
From this point, McCauley it is yours…………………………………………..David.

Considering David has already written about the meals we have eaten today, I’m not sure there is much else to say! (Only joking) Today was another productive and exciting day at camp. Kate and Mom spent all day in the pool, per usual, making extraordinary progress with all of the kids they are teaching. While my group was at the pool, I watched mom take her group to the deep end and teach them how to dive off the edge. They were so excited and eager to learn something new and by the end of the rotation we could hardly stop them from diving in! Kate began working with three preschoolers that seemed quite reluctant to get in the pool. However, I was not surprised to find out that she had a hard time getting them out of the water by the end of the day. I am a group leader for a group of 12 kids ages 7-10 so I get to spend a lot of time with them throughout the day as they rotate through swimming, music, Bible stories, arts and crafts, and sports. The theme of this week’s Bible story is about Joseph and his coat of many colors. It has brought back many memories of the musical Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat we put on at HBBC when I was in the youth group. Anyway, I have enjoyed getting to know each and every child in my group and watching their enthusiasm to learn about Christ. The unique spirits of each child have shown me that God is working through them, which generates a hopeful future for this community.

Team 1: July 10, 2011

To kick off the ninth summer of HBBC’s mission involvement in Helena, Arkansas our small group of five has been working hard during pre-camp to prepare for the highly anticipated week ahead of us. Kate Hall, Charles Wheless, and David Hawkins arrived on Friday and hit the ground running in preparation for the first of two weeks of camp, which will begin tomorrow.

Charles has been working hard on a computer program that will help Kate run the swim camp and registration more smoothly. We are excited to see the results of his hard work! Saturday afternoon (after an unexpected 4 hour travel delay) my mom (Elsie) and I (McCauley) arrived in Memphis. David picked us up from the airport and fortunately for us, his keen nose for good food brought us to Hollywood Café, a small restaurant in Robbinsonville, Mississippi that has also been featured on the travel channel. We sure did feel like we were in Hollywood as we enjoyed a full meal of fried pickles, onion rings, fried okra, and best of all, fried green tomatoes. After arriving in Helena at the Edwardian Inn, the five of us moseyed downtown to enjoy “Helena’s Second Saturdays” with live music and authentic art.

This morning we started off the day with a delicious breakfast of homemade French toast, sausage, and fresh fruit. We then ventured for the first time to West Helena Baptist Church, which we had been invited to personally by the pastor, Dusty Rhodes, the previous evening over a country cooked meal at Kelly’s restaurant. Pastor Rhodes gave a wonderful and inspirational sermon on Daniel chapter 6 and the story of Daniel in the lion’s den. The congregation was especially welcoming to us as visitors and even gave Kate an opportunity to speak about HBBC’s involvement in Helena and encourage them to participate and volunteer in the ACC (All Church Challenge). We also made a special connection with one of the church members, Francis; who is the sister of our previous minster Dr. George Ballentine’s wife, Sue.

After the service we headed over to Helena Country Club to enjoy another delicious meal. Later this afternoon, we dispersed into group meetings in order to further prepare for the exciting week ahead of us. After that the five of us headed out for yet another meal, boy do we love to eat! Dinner was hosted by the Wells family as an expression of their sincere gratitude for all of the churches that helped rebuild their home. After about a 45 minute detour and driving almost 36 miles out of the way, we finally made it. Don’t worry though, Charles benefited from a nice, long nap. We were very blessed to be a part of that fellowship this evening and look forward to finding out what God has planned for us this week. We can’t wait to start our first day tomorrow and have been praying hard for the many families of this community in hopes that they will continue to spread the love of Christ as we share it with them this week.

Team 1: Day 1

Posted by McCauley James

This morning was an early start as we were anxious to begin our first day of camp. For breakfast a quiche dish was prepared with more sausage and fresh fruit. After breakfast we quickly gathered our necessary supplies and left to set up for camp. With the temperature rising over 90 degrees8:30 a.m. I don’t think anyone was quite prepared for the exhausting day ahead. The morning got off to a quick start shortly after everything was set up as a continuous flow of children flooded in for registration. This was in addition to the many that had already signed up. By the end of the day there were a total of 110 kids registered! As numbers grew, there is no doubt that we were all fully occupied. Charles worked diligently on the new spreadsheets that have helped organized camp participants by age, color groups, and swim level. Kate patiently dealt with the many new campers that showed up today who needed to be swim tested and placed into the most fitting group. Elsie spent the day in the pool teaching both new and familiar faces how to swim and David worked especially hard to make sure water and ice was delivered to every station of camp in order to keep cool as best we could.


I think everyone would agree that there were trying moments brought about by the adjustment period of the first day. However, it is inevitable that the joy shown in the smiles of the children and the great appreciation of the community makes everything well worth it. While Kate, Elsie, and I spent the evening at the pool teaching adult swim lessons and doing water aerobics, Charles and David enjoyed dinner without us. The girls made a quick trip to Wendy’s due to exhaustion from the pool and the heat. As another day has ended we are thankful to God for the many blessings he has bestowed upon us throughout the trip thus far and are eager for what he has prepared for us in the days ahead. We know that the bond of Christ is the strength that holds us together as we all face the difficult tasks put before us. Another busy and exciting day lies before us tomorrow and we can’t wait to find out what is in store for us!

Arkansas Mission Trip 2011 July 8-15 & July 16-22

Bookmark this page now to view entries for our 2011 Arkansas Mission Trip. Team 1 will be in Helena, Arkansas July 8-15. Team 2 will take over July 16-22!